OV9

I forgot to post this; it's been a week since I went on a Segway Safari. That should be vaguely relevant to this forum since it's wheeled transport for geeks. I'd never had a go on one before so when my wife suggested it I suppressed my natural instinct of 'fuck that' and had a go.

This was down in Devon, and the Segways were vaguely off-road biased with two low pressure chunky treaded tyres. After the first half a mile of so (on tarmac) the instructor removed the speed restricters which I hadn't realised were in place; they were still definitely restricted even after that but I suspect only to whatever the legal limit is - probably 15.5mph like e-bikes.

First impressions - they don't feel quite as unnatural as you might expect from a device which must be constantly adjusting its point of balance. Manoeuvrable too - easy to spin on the spot. Took 30s or so to get used to moving off smoothly and braking to a halt.

After being derestricted we were let loose in an off-road playground, with just a couple of deep lakes to avoid I'd had a look at prices for Segways before going along and they're ludicrously expensive (£7k or so for the one I was on), so it's hardly surprising you only see them in hire places like this. Battery lasts about 12 miles and unlike an e-bike you have to get off and push once it runs out so they're really quite pointless. But amusing in some ways.

I was constantly trying to get mine to go faster by leaning forwards in different ways. Did manage to get a real wiggle on when cornering at max speed and fell off into some foliage but kept it upright so it didn't turn itself off. Going up and down some steep hills was interesting; weirdly it feels more unsafe going up because it seems to be programmed to lean you back slightly going down and there's never a feeling it'll run away with itself.

Overall, an amusing curio; glad I've tried one. I think you could have a nasty accident if you were racing someone and rubbed wheels because the tyres protrude and once you bounce a wheel off the floor, there's no innate stability. And they're not effortless; you need to put some work in to get speed out of them so with such a limited range and high price they're not a patch on an eMTB for getting around or range.

We did one as a family about 7 years back.

Great fun, and as you say - after 2 mins it feels very natural to control.

I can also confirm that getting both wheels onto slippery leafy grass whilst at vMax provides a very quick method of dismounting the device. Ouch.

Yeah, falling off made me regret doing it in shorts and flip flops but I managed not to stub my toe.

I had a play on one on a work jolly around Lyon. They're fun but I've not felt the urge to ride one since.

One of our Romanian colleagues managed to fall off, break her face and arm. Her response was to get shitfaced then get driven back to Romania in the morning before getting medical attention.

They're a laugh off road, you look a right dork riding them round cities though!

Yes, very Mall Cop

I had a go on one in Spain. It didn't take too long to get used to and on a flat'ish surface, they were quite easy to use. I'd advise against any kind of hill though, as the self levelling was a nightmare. If it thinks you're going too fast or too much of an angle, it tries to correct itself... Which leads it to wobbling back and forth and throwing you off (from my experience). I've got no desire to give one a go again, ebikes and the escooters are a better option.

Rich B wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:16 pm They're a laugh off road, you look a right dork riding them round cities though!

Especially if you're bleeding from your face.

They also weigh something silly like 50kg. I wouldn't want to carry that up into an apartment or on a train.

We did an off road course with them when i was in Australia. Was great fun.